News Flash
TEHRAN, Jan 29, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Iran denied US and British accusations that
it supported militant groups behind a drone strike in Jordan that killed
three US military personnel, Tehran's official IRNA news agency reported on
Monday.
"These claims are made with specific political goals to reverse the realities
of the region," IRNA quoted foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani as
saying.
There has so far been no claim of responsibility for the strike.
US President Joe Biden said on Sunday that "radical Iran-backed militant
groups operating in Syria and Iraq" were behind the strike on the frontier
base in Jordan's northeast.
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron reiterated a call for Iran "to de-
escalate in the region".
Kanaani said such statements threatened "regional and international peace and
stability".
US Central Command said 34 personnel were also wounded, eight of whom
required evacuation.
US troops operate at the base near Jordan's border with Iraq and Syria as
part of an international coalition against the Islamic State jihadist group.
The strike marked the first US military losses since the war between Israel
and Hamas began.
Iran-backed Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on October 7 that resulted
in about 1,140 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of
official figures.
Israel's relentless military offensive has killed at least 26,422 people in
Gaza, most of them women and children, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health
ministry.